Jury Deliberates Case Of Police Officer And Accused Rapist
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Jury deliberations resume this morning in the trial of a former Philadelphia police officer and karate instructor charged with assaulting one of his students for years, beginning when she was a pre-teen.
Fifty-one year-old Tyrone Wiggins concedes they had a close relationship, but he says he was a mentor and father figure, and he never touched her. But the alleged victim, now 25, who joined Wiggins' karate class when she was ten, testified Wiggins started sexually assaulting her when she was 12, and the abuse continued until she was 20. She says he controlled and manipulated and threatened her so she did not come forward sooner.
A potentially key piece of evidence in the case is a tape of Wiggins and the young woman, in which she admits to selling drugs as a teen. She alleges Wiggins forced her to make the tape -- to lie -- so she could never leave him. He says he used the tape to teach her a lesson, and later in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent her from becoming a police officer, and that is her motive to lie about him.
Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio
